


Maybe in another life

by orphan_account



Category: A Song of Ice and Fire & Related Fandoms
Genre: Drama, F/M, Romance, what might have been
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2014-11-13
Updated: 2014-11-13
Packaged: 2018-02-25 05:34:54
Rating: General Audiences
Warnings: Creator Chose Not To Use Archive Warnings
Chapters: 1
Words: 1,713
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/2610362
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/orphan_account/pseuds/orphan_account
Summary: <blockquote class="userstuff">
              <p>Catelyn Hunt has absolutely no idea why the kingslayer hates her so much.</p>
            </blockquote>





	Maybe in another life

**Author's Note:**

> I'm going to take a bit of creative liberty and imagine that Jaime survives the war and is allowed to stay on as a knight, and possibly as the lord of Casterly Rock. I'm going to go with Dany taking the iron throne, with Tyrion as her hand, unlikely as it is, but anyway.  
> Do enjoy.

Catelyn Hunt was taller than most girls her age. And slender. At eight years, she seemed to be a precocious bean pole, running around the isle of Tarth, making friends with the fisherfolk and the serving boys. Lady Sansa Stark had once told her that she was a lot like her sister Arya, who was a faceless woman in Braavos. Cat had been named after Lady Sansa'a mother, the Lady Catelyn Tully Stark, whose story Cat knew was a terrible tragedy that hung over her father and her long dead mother.

She had pestered Lady Sansa, asking about her namesake until father had glared at her quite sharply. "It's alright, Ser Hyle," said Lady Sansa, "Cat here is just curious." But she looked so sad.

Cat never asked her again. 

Cat's mother had died when she was born. She had been the heir to Evenfall hall, the seat of Selwynn Tarth. Grandfahter still lived and she was his sole heir. He'd wanted her betrothed , but father said there was time still. Gods knew she was prettier than her mother had ever dreamed of being, with her brown hair and her easy smile, which was father's. All that she had inherited from her mother were her eyes. And her skill with the sword. Mother had been a great knight Lady. She had ridden beside the Great Jaime Lannister, the lion of the West, also named the kingslayer. They said it had been mother who had saved him from Queen Daenerys's wrath 10 long years ago. Father rarely talked about the kingslayer, and when he did, there was a sad light in his eyes. The same sad look he wore when mother was mentioned. But there was no way the daughter of the maid of Tarth could be raised without certain stories being told. 

Cat knows that something is about to change when Grandfather brings her to his chambers one evening. Father is with him, looking furious for all of them to see. Grandfather doesn't seem to notice. Or maybe he's just ignoring father on purpose.

"I don't see why we should send her there of all places," Father starts. "The westerlands are too far off for us. It will take her so long to return." They were going to foster her, in the Westerlands. At Casterly Rock, she hoped. Perhaps she could meet the kingslayer. "She is my heir. And I will not fail her like I did her mother." Grandfather looks at her and in his eyes, she sees the gaping hole her mother had left behind.

It  _was_ a fostering at the rock. Cat bubbles with excitement and jumps for joy when she hears. Her father is not so quick to share her joy. "You will be so far from us, little Cat." He said. "I will miss you so." He looks far off, like he does when thinking of mother, and Cat is curious. "What are you thinking of, Father?" He smiles at her. "Nothing much, Kitten. Just what your mother would have thought." Cat wants to know if she would approve, and father looks at her with a strange light in his eyes. "Oh, yes." He says. "I believe she would like that very much." 

She leaves the next day amidst much excitement.

Catelyn Hunt is impressed by the magnificient Rock, wth it's Lion Heraldry and gold. It is grander than what she has seen in Tarth, or in Winterfell, when she went to visit Lady Sansa. But it is not Jaime Lannister who waits for her at the gate of the castle, but the imp; Lord Tyrion, the Queen's hand.

"I must say, you've taken to your mother's height, though you hold it much better than  _she_ ever did." Cat thinks she should be offended, but then she remembers that he is the Queen's Hand and was once wed to Lady Sansa, though those days were long gone. Lady Sansa had said that he was a good man, and that he was more honourable than the rest of the Lannisters put together. She smiles, and by the time they enter the keep, she finds that Lord Tyrion is the most interesting person, she has ever met. They make fast friends, and she is sorry when he has to leave. 

"Well, young Catelyn, you'll meet my brother soon enough. He'll want to teach you to fight and all, though he's lost a hand. I dare say, he may not show it, but he is very glad to have you with him." He gives her parting words. And to her surprise, reaches up to kiss her cheek. 

It is only then that she notices the handsome man, glaring at her from the holdfast near the armoury. His hair is golden and even from far off, Cat notices his green eyes and his golden hand. 

The kingslayer. 

 

Three weeks into her fostering, Cat is desperate to go back to Tarth. 

It's obvious. The kingslayer hates her. With a passion.

"Stand straight, girl. You slouch like a bear."

"That's not how you hold a blade. You think that's a war hammer."

"Gods, girl must you be so clumsy. I've known babes in the cradle with more charm and grace than you."

"Didn't that Hedge knight father of yours teach you anything?"

That was his favourite. He absolutely  _hated_ father. Hyle the horror, he said. 

Catelyn did her best to avoid him.

But late at night, she wonders what her mother had thought of him. Had she disliked him? Or had she cared for him?

Try as she may, she could not hate Ser Jaime.

He never said a word about mother. Never. And she realizes that she wants to know.

"You knew my mother." She asks him in the armoury. His back is turned to her, but he stiffens. "You did."

"Aye." His voice is rough and flinty. "I knew the wench. And I think you know that."

"You never speak of my mother. I thought you were comrades. I thought I'd ask you what she was like."

"You don't remember her." It's not a question. "She died when I was born."

"And there I always thought the wench would fall in battle." he snorts softly. He still doesn't face her. 

"She named me for Lady Stark." Why is she telling him this? He didn't care, it was obvious. 

"Lady Stoneheart you mean. Catelyn Stark is long dead. Twice dead. And near as took your parents with her. Not that I would have cared." His speaks through gritted teeth and Cat wonders what made him so angry. 

"If you hate them so, why did you agree to foster me?" She knows that she's said too much. He turns and his eyes are full of fire. When he speaks his voice is half snarl half whisper.

"Tyrion wanted you here, Gods know why. Thought I spend too much time moping." She looks at him and, for the first time notices that he isn't wearing his golden hand. She stares at the stump, but finds that she is not at all repulsed. She feels a stir of pity. 

"Does it hurt, your hand?" He looks at her a moment. "Not anymore." "Don't you miss it?"

He sits down on the armoury table. She moves closer. "The bloody mummers cut it off. They were taking us to Harrenhall, your mother and I. I didn't want to live after that. Not even for Cersei." He speaks more to himself, than to her. "Were it not for that stubborn, pigheaded wench, I would have." Cat knows that he's talking about mother. 

"She saved your life then." He smiles sourly. "You could say that. All honour and courage, she was. Tried to be one of those knights from a song. It was me who saved her at Harrenhall though." She perks up. This was one tale she had only heard in snippets.

"The wench and I fought a bear." He pauses to look up at her. 

"Vargo Hoat gave her a tourney sword and put her in a bear pit. I had to jump in and save her. A Lannister pays his debts, they say."

She looks up in interest. "Were you scared?" He snorts. "Jaime Lannister, scared? Of course not! Or maybe I was." 

"Lady Catelyn sent you to king's Landing with her."

"She did." There is a silent moment. "I would so love to know why she named you Catelyn. And how on Earth Hunt agreed to it." Cat looks straight at him. It seems that he hates her namesake more than anything. "It was her last wish. All she wanted before she died."

He snorts. "In another life where you were a boy, she'd have named you Vargo. Or Roose. Ronnet, perhaps." 

She doesn't know these men. "Mother respected Lady Catelyn. A lot. Father said that if I'd been a boy, she'd have named me Jaime. After you."

"In another life, perhaps."He says, looking at her for a moment.

"You have her eyes." He says. "Hers were blue like yours. The only thing beautiful about her. They looked so out of place on her ugly face." Cat feels a hiss of anger. It was no lie. Even father had said so. 

"You also have that bastard's hair. And his smile. God I hate that smile. Must have been as smug as hell the day they wed." Cat feels bound to defend her father. "Father cared for her. And I won't have you talking about my father like that."

He smiles bitterly. "Your father, isn't he? Isn't that just fine?"

"He's a good man. I don't know why you hate him so."

He doesn't answer. Not for a long time. "I sent your mother to look for Sansa Stark. I don't know how he ended up being tangled in it all. He shouldn't have been there." "But he was. And he married her." 

"And he married her. In another life he wouldn't have."

Cat has never been one for wishful thinking.

"In another life, you would have both hands." It was cruel, but it was true.

He looks right at her eyes, and for a moment Cat thinks that she sees regret in his eyes.

"In another life, you would have been  _my_ daughter." He says.


End file.
